PicksInSix Review: The Porch on Windy Hill - Northlight Theatre
Seared Memories Evaporate on Northlight’s “Porch”
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy
Music is an extraordinary connector to the people in our lives and to our past. As we age, life-changing memories often linger dormant until they are awakened by a long-forgotten melody that will then burrow into our consciousness, leaving waves of mixed emotions—joy, melancholy and longing. Those feelings intensify in our youth as the music around us serves as the catalyst for the person we are destined to become. But, what happens if, along the way, those brilliantly seared memories evaporate in an instant? The answer to that question can be found in Northlight’s arresting production of “The Porch on Windy Hill,” now playing at Northlight Theatre.
The backstory of this show—billed as “a new play with old music”—is as fascinating as the play itself. Conceived and directed by Sherry Lutken, the writing credits include Lutken and the three accomplished actors and extremely gifted musicians Lisa Helm Johanson, Morgan Morse and David M. Lutken who bring to life the fictional story of a young couple on a musical quest that both satisfies and enlightens us about generational awareness, race discrimination and family dynamics all unfolding on the porch of a family homestead on Windy Hill.
The play, born during the pandemic—which, not surprisingly, has become a theatrical renaissance of sorts with new work that could have only emerged when creative artists were fighting to cope with the isolation of the time—is centered around the relationship of a grandfather and his granddaughter, fractured by decades of silence, fueled by pride, self-righteousness and lack of cultural awareness, who have now found reconciliation through the American folk music that has been the life blood for generations of the family.
The current generation is represented by Mira (Johanson) and her companion, Beckett (Morse), who wind up at the family home of Edgar (Lutken), a Vietnam-era veteran and folk singer for whom music is his salvation. After an incident, Edgar’s daughter abruptly moved to New York with Mira and her Korean husband when Mira was eight, so the visit now is a bit of an uneasy homecoming. It is not immediately clear at first why Mira has returned, but Beckett, a graduate student, fits right in with Edgar’s folksy, welcoming style and it takes only a minute to realize that the music they will be making comes from another wonderful place altogether. While Beckett provides the documented history of the music, it has always been a part of Edgar’s life, passed down from his family to his daughter and granddaughter all those years ago.
The beauty in the music helps to melt away layers of Mira’s sadness and allows her the strength to both face the issues that have divided the family and to understand, if not accept, her grandfather’s point of view. It takes a few shots of moonshine, an array of instruments and some foot-stomping folk melodies, but Edgar begins to understand things more clearly, too.
The porch exterior set—chalk white siding and weather-worn lattice work—is the fine design work of Mara Ishihara Zinky, right down to the 1960s transistor radio and bird’s nest in the eve. With Lindsey Lyddan’s evocative lighting and all the calming sounds of nature in Rick Sims sound design, the atmosphere is perfect to sit a spell and enjoy the music. “The Porch on Windy Hill” plays through May 14.
PHOTO|Michael Brosilow
VIDEO|Starbelly Studios
through May 14, 2023
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